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Directorof Deborah Warner Photo byBrian Slater
Fiona Shaw as Winnie in Beckett's Happy Days Photo by Neil Libbert
February 27, 2007
We arrived in the Lyttleton Theatre to find two chairs poised on stage in front of the mammoth set of Deborah Warner's production of Beckett's Happy Days. Odd, in light of the fact that three would be needed to include an interviewer. However, in typically maverick fashion, Warner and Shaw stepped onstage announcing that they would be conducting the interview themselves, and promptly advised the audience to ask them questions. And ask they did. Many of the answers revealed insight into Warner's directing process and Shaw's acting inspirations. The first question drew laughter from the audience and a droll smile from Shaw. It was in reference to comments Warner had previously made on ‘The Woman's Hour' radio show in regard to the difficulties she had been having working on Beckett's play. While the director pondered the question, Shaw inspired even more laughter with her frank answer, initialling claiming that ‘it was boring' working on Happy Days because ‘not much was happening,' quickly adding, ‘don't worry…I know the speeches.' She and Warner agreed that ‘theatre is a live event, about life' and neither wanted ‘the stage directions to appear like stage directions.' Warner explored the angles further as she stated, addressing the audience, ‘You turned up and that's how I learned what they play is.' This comment drew further chuckles, this time for the director's nerve and bravery. ‘I made a note in my diary that night, Warner went on, “So that's what the play is.” Glancing at Shaw saying, ‘Remember, I showed you Fiona?' to which the actress nodded. Warner also stated wryly that, ‘a lot of academics have told us how funny Beckett is,' as if she doubted the statement. Refuting her doubts with, ‘In the first week of previews, when you (the audience) began to respond, I agreed.' Shaw went on to say that with Happy Days , ‘Beckett was writing about the audience…life, death, suicide, etc,' adding that, ‘the energy of his writing jumps ahead.' She amused the audience further with the comment that, ‘it was ‘interesting to hear all those heads, thinking aloud,' to which they responded with smiles, shaking their own heads in agreement. For Beckett, she stated finally, ‘the audience is the missing character.' One of the aspects that Warner found most interesting in watching the audience night after night was how they were, ‘responding so individually' to the play. One audience member admitted that she'd been ‘dragged' to the '76 production of Happy Days , starring Peggy Ashcroft back when the Lyttleton Theatre opened, adding that she was going to see it again that evening to access the results of Warner and Shaw's collaboration, which both thanked her for. Warner herself confessed to abhorring Beckett when she was a drama student, saying that, amongst many other productions of his plays, she'd seen one of Happy Days at the Royal Court Theatre which Beckett himself had directed, yet none she'd seen made her ‘want to do it.' Warner answer to queries about the much-commented set contained a tinge of irony: ‘National Workshop did this and I don't think they thought it was a blessing.' To additional allusions that she it could be seen as apocalyptic. The director reiterated that she didn't think she was ‘going outside of the stage directions, drolly adding, ‘some may say it looks like somewhere along the coast where they had their holiday,' allowing that ‘It's this stage…Beckett has a history of being played in small theatres.'
Fiona Shaw as Winnie 'in' the set of Happy Days Photo by Neil Libbert One person questioned Shaw and Warner on where they thought the tale Winnie tells about a doll came from, while another wanted to know what they thought the play itself infers. Shaw's response to both was philosophical: ‘Things are whatever you think they are…That's the nature of art; we all have a choice.' When asked how the production got started, director Warner replied, ‘I wanted to do Waiting for Godot with Maggie Smith and Fiona. But the estate said no to gender swapping. Then someone said, “Why don't you do Happy Days?” So I opened my play box and there it was, and to my surprise it said Winnie was a woman around 50.' Shaw humorously interjected that ‘This woman Winnie has a lot of charm and a certain amount of glamour.' The actress was then asked about her approach to the character of her husband Willie, played by Tim Potter, to which she answered, ‘I first saw him (Potter) play Salvador Dali in Hysteria and saw him as a hot house flower of an actor.' Continuing on about the play itself she stated that it is ‘not about age, but about something being gone from us. In this moment, we are faced with eternity.' The actress then added thoughtfully, ‘ Happy Days speaks of any relationship that has lost its way. You try and invent these relationships but there's no doubt they reflect reality.' When specifically asked whether she thought the mammoth set ‘takes away from the intimacy of the play', Warner first responded with, ‘Edward Beckett (the playwright's nephew) came and enjoyed it.' In relation to her initial difficulties placing Winnie, Shaw then said that, ‘very often I've found that whatever I like isn't what's best for me. I gave up doing what I liked long ago.' Following the experience of playing Winnie she claimed that, ‘somehow, I am free within it' Both women reiterated that wherever Beckett has stated in his stage directions that there should be pauses, there should be as they make the play ‘a lot funnier.' Once again, Warner reminded the audience that she ‘didn't think they could find that pause without them.' Shaw then quipped facetiously that, ‘the problem with stopping is that it makes you think.' When asked whether she thought being Irish lent additional into the author's world, she acquiesced that ‘in this case, the voice in his writing sounds like my upbringing,' referring to its ‘Suburban Irish' tone as opposed to more atypical working class or wealthy period pieces. When queried about the significance of the revolver in Winnie's handbag, Warner passed the ball back to the querant, answering, ‘it's open for you.' Allusions from one audience member to the notion that Warner may have been better off without Beckett himself ‘looking over her shoulder', which Shaw translated into “Are we pleased he's dead?” were responded to as follows: ‘Last night, when we were filled to capacity, I wished he was alive…What's remarkable is that these artists absorb everything.' Both Warner and Shaw made reference to the fact that an artist can't help but be ‘victim to the period in which they were born, going on to say that it wouldn't be good to risk alienating the audience by resisting change in terms of the way the play was approached. Shaw clarified that, ‘the writer can absolutely see it, but the ‘it' they see is not necessarily what we see. When asked how their collaborations have changed over time, Shaw responded first with: ‘There's no mystery to the way we work and often, it's very hard work. Sixteen years ago, when I first met Deborah, she'd set a benchmark for working long hours. Back then, I was quite happy to do so, but I'm not as happy about it now.' Warner answered in part with, ‘I don't think we would have got here if it wasn't for The Wasteland.' Fiona smiled at that, commenting that, ‘Deborah always makes a ship that is worth sinking in…I trust her immensely, so even if you are drowning, something will happen.' When asked what being in Happy Days has meant to her, the actress responded, ‘It has completely rejuvenated my life in the theatre. It's bypassed everything I have ever learned. For me, it's made me feel incredibly warm towards human beings!' Shaw seemed genuinely surprised when saying this, that if I had not already seen the play, her remark would have prompted me to buy a ticket. After Warner stated that the play may be going on tour to Paris and Madrid following it's N.T. run, which ends on March 1 st , a women in the audience asked her to “tell a bit more about their working relationship,” wanting to know whether Shaw “does everything you tell her to?” The actress herself answered as follows: ‘with Deborah, she firstly witnesses my “testing outs” and she uses the best of what's occurred in the room…she puts the responsibility on the actors. She (Warner) has said that she “can often see the door the actor should go through and then she waits.” Warner was quick to add that it ‘really helps to work with someone you trust.' The last question… Any possibility of getting Happy Days filmed? was answered by Warner. ‘Once it's filmed, that thing between you and it is gone.' The acclaimed director's last words were, ‘We'll do something new.'
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